DENVER - University of Denver women's basketball senior forward Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.) scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Pioneers in an 87-63 win over Louisiana-Monroe Wednesday night at Magness Arena.

Denver moves to 16-10, 8-5 SBC with the win, while Louisiana-Monroe falls to 13-14, 7-7 SBC.

"We kept shooting and did what we know works," said head coach Erik Johnson. "I am proud of where we have come and we got a good contribution from everyone tonight."

Junior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) added 16 points and senior guard Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) tallied 13 points. Freshman guard Quincey Noonan (Broomfield, Colo.) scored 11 points and sophomore guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) led the Pioneers with six assists.

The Pioneers scored 58 points in the second half -seven short of the all-time Denver record of 67- by shooting 64.0 percent (16-of-25) from the field and making 72.7 percent (8-of-11) of their three-point attempts.

Denver's first half was highlighted by impressive ball control, limiting its turnovers to three while forcing 12 Louisiana-Monroe turnovers in the half. Murdoch was the highlight of the half, scoring all 16 of her points in the first twenty minutes and going 6-of-6 (100 percent) from the free throw line. The Pioneers went up by six with 2:57 to play, but the Warhawks battled back and the game went to intermission tied 29-29.

The Pioneers took the lead early in the second half on the shooting of Noonan, then continued to stretch it thanks in part to Rice, who scored all of her 11 in the second half, including going 3-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc. The Pioneers led by as many as 29 after redshirt sophomore Morgan Shell (Marble Falls, Texas) drained a three pointer with 3:34 to play.

Denver finished the game 27-of-55 from the floor and shot 49.1 percent. Louisiana-Monroe shot 36.7 percent and was 22-of-60 from the field.

Kassie Courtney led the Warhawks with 13 points. Jordan Rawson and Larrie Williams added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Pioneers host South Alabama Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3:30 p.m. MT. The Pioneers will honor their three seniors, Culberson, Rice and Abbey Leichliter (Jackson, Wyo.) in a pre-game ceremony. Fans can follow the game on Pioneer Vision, Live Stats and CoverItLive, all available on www.DenverPioneers.com.

- PIONEERS -